


at last I recognize you, heavenly goodness

by janie_tangerine



Series: the jaimebrienne spite countdown to season eight [16]
Category: A Song of Ice and Fire - George R. R. Martin, Game of Thrones (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Classical Music, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Alternate Universe - Opera Singers, Classical Music, Crack Treated Seriously, Dragons, F/M, Jon Snow Knows Something, Language puns, Not For Cersei Fans I Warned You, Operas, Past Cersei Lannister/Jaime Lannister, Singing, Spitefic, The Author Regrets Nothing, Tooth-Rotting Fluff, Virginity, italian language puns, the author's italian-ness is showing sorry not sorry, this is ridiculous and i don't regret it
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-30
Updated: 2019-03-30
Packaged: 2019-12-26 19:07:12
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,610
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18288425
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/janie_tangerine/pseuds/janie_tangerine
Summary: in which everyone's involved in Tywin's opera company.In this episode/interlude: Cersei crashes Jaime's and Jon's rehearsal, everyone is extremely perplexed as the reasons why, Daenerysreallylikes the staging and Brienne is renamed in Jaime's contacts list.





	at last I recognize you, heavenly goodness

**Author's Note:**

> OKAY GUYS SO: I hadn't planned to revisit the opera singers verse for the spitefic galore, but as it requires explanations, let's start with What Is Prompting Today's Fic, which will exceptionally feature more than one anon as it's a summary of what I call The Forsaken Virginity Discourse that has been going on since the dawn of time in this fandom and I honestly can't anymore with how ridiculous it is. Cases in question:
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> This was from when it happened AGAIN last november, but since we're all for blasts from the past, I would like to also offer these gems:
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> There was more but like... we all got the gist. NOW, what the hell does this have to do with opera: I was trying to figure out what to write for this thing, then I listened to The Part Of Rossini's _Armida_ That Will Be Discussed In This Fic and went like 'waaaait a moment omg there's the perfect pun' so I figured hey, have an interlude.
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> For anyone who hasn't read the previous episodes: everyone is singing in Tywin's opera company that Tyrion manages, J/B got together at the end of the previous theater season while performing _Fidelio_ together, J/C *is* a past thing, Jon has the right voice for comedy/light roles and not dramas which is why he hates 90% of his parts, Stannis has already fainted on the job once because These People Stress Him A Lot. There, that's everything you need to know. ;) ~~Also, this is supposed to be in the new season but the next few works in this series will go back to the older one because I need to write a few more things before moving on with year two. ;)~~
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> As for specific chapter notes (of course I'm going to link the music in question/provide the translation in the fic as usual):
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> \- Jon, Jaime, Dany & co. are performing Rossini's _[Armida](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Armida_\(Rossini\))_ , which is a p. difficult piece to stage because it has like six different tenor parts. Summary: Rinaldo, the best soldier in the crusader army, is seduced by a sorceress named Armida who of course also wants his army to fail but eventually leaves her because God's light shows him that he was in the wrong;  
> \- The opera Brienne is technically singing in on the other side is Donizetti's _[Le convenienze e inconvenienze teatrali](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Le_convenienze_ed_inconvenienze_teatrali)_ (for which I named the series) which is a single-act crack piece about an opera company trying to stage a new work and utterly fails, which is also known for having one of the few pieces in which a bass sings a female part en travesti;  
> \- _Les Troyens_ is a French grand opera about the fall of Troy and Aeneas's and Dido's tragic love story that has like five acts and is also pretty hard to stage and in which it's fairly common to cast the same female lead for both lead female roles.
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> There, I think I'm done - see you tomorrow with some mindless fluff and enjoy... whatever this is. ;)

_Well_ , Jaime decides as he’s shown the new sets, _this year Tyrion has definitely lost his mind_.

Or better: he lost it _in the good way_ , but Jaime had thought he was joking when he said that since for the first time they weren’t in the red, this new season he _would_ fucking stage all his favorite unknown titles.

He just hadn’t thought he’d go down _hard_ on it, but not only the list in the yearly pre-season meeting had been fairly telling — there are just _three_ cash-in titles, the rest is all minor or lesser known works from famous authors, _Russian_ opera, 20th century titles and so on. Shit, there’s _two_ Britten operas. Jaime just hopes that he made his calculations right because no one wants to be in the red again, but apparently Tyrion had been waiting for years for his moment to shine and to _stage things he actually wanted_ and he’s not going to chicken out of it now.

That said…

He knows that his brother’s been writing that dragon fantasy saga thing for _years_ when he’s not working. He _knows_ Tyrion’s always had a thing for the damned lizards. He also knows Tyrion and Oberyn are fairly thick as thieves these days, so he’d be down with anything Oberyn would want to stage.

He also knows that he and Daenerys Targaryen share a questionable interest in dragon-related stuff which Jaime never saw the point of — okay, _Discworld_ doesn’t count.

But listen, when Tyrion went and said they were staging _Armida_ and that they were doing it properly, he hadn’t imagined that they’d stage it as some Tolkien-like high fantasy where Armida _rides a black and red dragon_.

Daenerys, who’s in the title role, immediately looks excited at the sight of the giant lizard on the stage — Jaime has to give it to Davos Seaworth, he built an incredibly well-made one, but still — and runs on it, looking at it in _glee_. “And I get to ride it? Best job _ever_ ,” she grins. “Lannister, please stage this more often, how about it?”

“Gladly,” Tyrion grins, in equal glee.

Thing is: everyone else in the cast seems to think it’s cool.

Except for Jon Snow — formerly Stark but not anymore since he and Ygritte eloped last month while they were staging _Il matrimonio segreto_ , and Jaime was about the one person who found it funny since it seemed like they were going to miss opening night. Jon is staring at the thing while next to Jaime looking literally _pained_ , and of course he would since _he_ is playing Rinaldo and he has to actually ride on that thing more than once. The fact that of course _this_ role is only slightly better to _him_ than his usual light tenor comedy ones because at least it’s not… a _comedy_ , doesn’t really seem to change the fact that he seems to _not_ want to sing in this at all. Same as usual.

“Hm,” Jaime tells him as Daenerys marvels at how _realistic_ that dragon looks, “seems like it’s just the two of us not liking this staging?”

“ _Well_ , at least you’re only in Act One,” Jon groans, pained. “I have to be in it _all the damned time_.”

“How sad being the protagonist who’d rather pick _virtue_ over loving a witch?” Jaime winks at him. Okay, it’s a _little bit_ funny how much Jon seems to hate anything he sings bar that one time he subbed for Joffrey in _Rigoletto_ last year when Joffrey flunked the first aria on opening night.

“Listen,” Jon says, “it’s funny to you, but I have to pretend I’m in love with my  _aunt_ that I’ve known since I was bloody born — and I mean, we’re friends and we’ve always gotten along and so on, but… it’s just weird. Also, I have to ride a fucking ridiculous dragon and I have more dumb love duets than I care for. Have pity on me.”

At _that_ , Jaime doesn’t find it so funny anymore, not when if _today_ he was cast to play lovers with Cersei he’d turn the part down regardless. He gives Jon a pat on the back that most likely won’t do anything to lift his mood.

“Okay, fair,” he admits. “But hey, _this_ one opera in your CV? Not a bad thing whatsoever. And cheer up, you could have been _me_ , when it came to play lovers with _relatives_.”

Jon, who is — same as everyone in this company — pretty much aware of the mess that he and Cersei used to be but who doesn’t know the details (and Jaime hopes it stays that way for about everyone who doesn’t know already), immediately blanches in sympathy. “Fine,” he agrees, “you’ve got a point. I’ll leave Robb to handle her, at least _one_ good thing about not getting to sing dramas.” He does sound a bit wistful, but it _is_ a point. Jaime honestly has pity on Robb most of the time since not only he _can’t_ sing his beloved comedies but also ends up cast with Cersei half of the time because they have the right voices for all the cash-in Verdi drama, so there’s no upside to it. He just hopes that he gets to branch out this year _without_ having Cersei in the cast.

As far as he’s concerned, though, Tyrion _did_ come through this year.

 _Since that Fidelio was exactly what I thought it would be_ , Tyrion had told him on closing night last year, _be sure that I’m making sure you pull your weight this year instead of feeling sorry for yourself, with Brienne or without_.

Jaime hadn’t thought he’d take it _this_ seriously, but — he actually _did_. He’s cast him in this _Armida_ , where thankfully he’s only in the first act so he doesn’t have to endure the dragon madness for longer than that, then as Lensky in _Onegin_ mid-season (and honestly, he’s glad he gets to sing again with Jon Connington, it’s been years since they starred together in anything but he did have a good time the few times they did), then he and Brienne are both doing _Les Troyens_ as the second to last staged opera this season and honestly, he’s really, _really_ glad that they cast her as _both_ Cassandra and Dido so she gets the whole of her time to shine, and the fact that Cersei _did_ want to sing Cassandra and Tyrion categorically said no _might_ have cheered his mood during that meeting. Anyway, he’s doing three parts this year, he’s feeling great about all of them, he’s absolutely delighted that even if they only have three cash-grabs and he’s not starring in any of them he and Brienne got cast together again and that she also has other good stuff where they’re not co-starring this year, and patience if Cersei will have to stick with only one role.

Maybe he’s being too spiteful about this, but given that for years _he_ gave up any role that meant _not_ starring with her and sorely regrets it, maybe she can get a taste of her own medicine and they can give poor Robb a break.

Anyway, he feels like for the first time in years he _will_ enjoy this damned season, so if he has to deal with the dumb dragon sets, well, he’ll deal. After all, _he_ doesn’t have to ride on the damned thing.

“I’m not going to give you an argument on that, because you’re right,” he says. “At least Stannis looks as outraged at that dragon as _we_ are.”

Stannis actually _does_ look like he wishes everyone would just go back to regular, sensed stagings.

Jaime has an idea it’s not going to happen this time.

“All right!” Oberyn says, clapping his hands. “So, costumes will be ready next week, but since the sets are ready, we’re starting rehearsals using them from today onwards. We have another three weeks, but you’re all great, we’re actually staging this _not_ rehashing half of the singers and the costumes are so _good_ , you can’t imagine — Melisandre _totally_ outdid herself.”

Jaime just hopes that whatever armor she cooked up for him _won’t_ make him want to faint the moment he puts it on.

“So, since today Jorah isn’t here and we need the bass for acts one and two, so we could probably rehearse three. Jon, Dany, Gendry and Rhaegar can come up here. Jaime, Loras, if you want to take the morning off —”

Loras, who is only in Act One, too, says he’ll go crash the _Midsummer Night’s Dream_ rehearsals so he can bother his sister who’s playing Helena (and Cersei is _Hermia_ , Jaime is honestly glad he skipped on _that_ one possible wasp nest of a production), but he has nothing better to do and Brienne is in the _Convenienze e inconvenienze teatrali_ piano rehearsals, and he’s not going to crash them to bother _her_ when he’s never seen the point and she also couldn’t wait to actually sing mindless comedy for once.

So he says he’ll stick around and see how that dragon fake-flies — he goes sitting in first row as Stannis shakes his head and goes in the director’s place and Oberyn starts ordering Jon, Rhaegar and Gendry on the stage.

Dany is still looking lovingly at the dragon.

Jaime has this idea that she’ll bring it home the moment this set is dismantled for good.

He shakes his head and settles down. It takes Oberyn a while to explain them exactly how they should move and what he wants them to do, and then Jon and Dany leave the scene while Gendry and Rhaegar start singing their part.

Jaime is admittedly a _bit_ impressed — the whole high fantasy enchanted jungle thing Seaworth built actually looks pretty damned good even without the proper lightening, and at least the entire part before Jon has to show up and they have to convince him to come back to fight for the Crusaders goes without a hitch. Oberyn stops everything again as Jon is called back on stage, explaining him how the entire scene should go now that he _finally_ has the magic mirror prop in which he should be staring at himself without realizing he’s been enchanted into that relationship.

“Hey,” Brienne says from Jaime’s right, sitting down next to him.

“What — hey,” he says after a moment of surprise. “What, you’re crashing _my_ rehearsal?”

“Let’s just say that Theon monopolized _mine_.”

“What? Is Greyjoy turning into a primadonna now?”

“No, but you know that he has that aria en travesti?”

“Sure I do. So what?”

“Well, he's having a _blast_ with it, so now they’re discussing how can they possibly embellish it and make it even more ridiculous, and it’s going to take them the entire morning, but then again it’s the big piece, so… everyone else but him has the day free and we figured we’d crash the _other_ rehearsals, but I wasn’t going to Cersei’s now, was I?”

“Please, I don’t want to go to your funeral before I have a chance to propose.”

She snorts, her hand reaching for his. “Fair,” she says, “but see, your rehearsal sounded like a better option. Wait, is that a _dragon_?”

“This is the _high fantasy_ staging,” Jaime groans. “Good thing _I_ don’t have to ride it.”

“Come on, it’s… kind of cool.”

“No, it’s tacky, but next time you can sing Armida and ride it if you really want to.”

“Like _hell_ ,” she snorts. “No one would ever take me seriously.”

“Please, with the voice you have a and a nice armor you’d look _badass_ on that thing.”

“Is this some kind of hint, Lannister?”

His fingers tangle with hers. “I don’t _know_ ,” he grins, “maybe I can convince Oberyn to have you as an extra just so I can get to see you in armor.”

“If you’re that interested we could just, you know, _cosplay_ like normal people do —”

“Brienne, if you two want to make out bring it outside, we have to do the trio!” Oberyn shouts from the stage.

“Right, I’m keeping my mouth shut,” she grins, moving back in her seat. Jaime also leans back, figuring that they can just relax and see how Jon manages to make this sound _tragic_ even if the music is everything but.

Admittedly, Jon does seem to take the entire thing with a bit more enthusiasm than his usual.

Even if he _does_ look _way_ like he’s overacting as he looks at himself in the mirror prop.

“[In quale aspetto imbelle io mi ravviso, oh stelle!... Qual di viltade oggetto!... Oh immenso mio rossor!](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4UCqPgaZM8w)”

_What is this powerless look that I see on my own face? How much of a coward was I, what shame!_

Right. It’s dramatic enough for his tastes, Jaime figures. He hasn’t heard him sing _that_ until now because he never was around for the act three rehearsal, but as much as he likes _dramas_ , at least in this case it doesn’t sound _too_ much like he does.

 _He’s suffering_ , Rhaegar sings.

 _He’s sighing_ , Gentry echoes him.

 _He’s feeling honor stirring inside him already… oh God! Please, favor our pledges_ , the both of them sing at once as Jon keeps on repeating his first line. The dragon is on the ground behind him still, even if according to what Oberyn said before it should start flying at some point.

That is, until Gendry breaks the impasse and goes to grab Jon by the arm. “Vedi qual reo governo di te fa un empio affetto?”

 _Look what holding love for something so evil has done to you_?” He sings in Jon’s face as Jon pretends to recoil.

Jaime doesn’t know _why_ exactly he squeezes Brienne’s hand at that, but — woah. He had forgotten _that_ line. _Somehow_ , he thinks he can relate and he really wishes he didn’t.

“S'hai cor bastante in petto resisti a tant’orror.”

_If you still have enough strength try to resist this much horror._

Jon shakes his head. “Qual di viltade oggetto!... Oh immenso mio rossor!”

 _What an object of cowardice, how shameful of me!_ He keeps on repeating while the other two incite him to go back and fight for them, and then he shakes his head and throws away the mirror.

“Cessate... ohimè! Cessate... che barbaro tormento! Io vile?... No: rammento che son Rinaldo ancor.”

 _Stop, stop, what is this wretched torment? Me a coward? No, I remember that I’m Rinaldo, after all_ —

 _Well, shit_ , that came out extremely convincing. Maybe the overdramatic acting is not such a bad choice. Jaime feels Brienne’s fingers squeeze his again, as those three circle each other, Gendry and Rhaegar urge him to leave with them all over again, Jon breathes in as he glances at the dragon with distaste —

“Unitevi a gara virtude, valore, per vincere amore che affanno mi dà… ma un raggio improvviso quest'alma rischiara... Ah! Sì, ti ravviso, celeste bontà… ah, sì, ti ravviso, celeste bontà!”

_Virtue and bravery come together so you can win over the love that torments me.. but there’s a sudden ray that lightens up my soul, oh, yes, at last I recognize you, heavenly goodness, I recognize you, heavenly goodness!_

Jaime almost whistles out loud at that because it _really_ did come out good, if only Jon sang like that all the time now he wouldn’t look _bored_ or too sad for his own roles whenever he’s on stage —

And then the door slams open and both music and singing stop because Cersei has just passed through it kicking it on the way back and is coming their way and —

Goes to stand right in front of them, looking _fairly fucking pissed off_ , and considering that Jaime hadn’t seen her since the prep meeting, well, he could have done with _not_ seeing her for a while longer, if you ask him.

“Cersei,” he asks, feeling fairly grateful that Brienne’s hand is _not_ moving. “Can I help you, can _they_ help you or you just wanted to check out the fake dragon for yourself?”

“It was because she was a _virgin_ , wasn’t it?”

… What the _hell_ , Jaime thinks.

He glances at Brienne, who looks mildly perplexed. Stannis, from behind Cersei, is looking _even more perplexed_. He’s halfway sure everyone on stage has to be.

“… _What_?” He asks, feeling like he’s just missed at least ten steps.

“Oh, don’t fucking lie. We were in pauses from rehearsals, Margaery was asking Loras if the two of you were still being the good kind of gross or _whatever the hell_ it is she thinks _you_ are, and he said you were and that it was a good thing since _she_ ,” she nods towards Brienne with distaste, “had people betting on being her first, and considering how she looks I’m sure you had to be her first. So what, you couldn’t want to fuck her just because _she_ was a virgin, didn’t you?”

He knows that on _some_ level, he should be angry or outraged or _both_.

But thing is —

It’s just so fucking _ridiculous_ , he can’t even conceive it.

“I — I didn’t — what the fuck,” he blurts. “This is just so —” He starts, and then _Brienne_ bursts out laughing, disentangling her hand because she has to wipe at her eyes for how _hard_ she’s doing it.

“I’m — oh, _damn it_ ,” she wheezes, “Cersei, what are you even on to? I didn’t tell him and he didn’t know before we actually, like, _did it_.”

“I didn’t ask _you_.”

“I don’t know, since _I_ am the subject I suppose I should have the last say,” Brienne wheezes again. “Come on, do you _really_ think that I went around advertising that I was a virgin when the last time people knew _they bet on who could fool me into giving it to them_? He didn’t know until it was a done deal and I actually _did_ fool around before. And I think if he had known he’d have cared less than _I_ did.”

“Oh, because it wasn’t because she wasn’t younger and _pure_ and whatever and you kept on bitching at me about how —”

“Cersei, never mind that I’d have rather spared _anyone_ the details even if they knew, but you _do_ realize that my problem was that you slept with _other people_ assuming I wouldn’t care and lied to me about it _and_ oh, wait, made sure I’d never know I had offers from other places to sing? If you had _all_ that sex with _me_ , I sure as fuck wouldn’t have had a single issue with it. We’re done because it wasn’t good for either of us and because it was all about _you_ , and this idea that I actually would give a single _fuck_ about whether she had been with others before me or not is just so ridiculous that I can’t even get angry at it. Now, since _they_ were working, can you just — go back to _your_ rehearsal, make peace with the fact that I’d appreciate not talking to you for the next ten years _and_ stop trying to decide that we’re done for reasons that weren’t _the ones I told you ten times already_?”

“As if all men don’t want a power trip in _that_ sense. I’m sure she’s such _fun_ in bed, you’ll be delighted,” she goes on, and by now this is all so bloody absurd he can’t even conceive it’s happening, Brienne bursts out laughing again as if she can’t conceive that this conversation is happening either —

Then Jon clears his throat. Very loudly. “Jaime,” he says, “if you _really_ wanted to sing my part, you could have just said.”

“… I _can’t_ sing your part, I’d have to retire,” Jaime retorts, thankful for the change of subject. “But what does _that_ have to do with this entire shitshow?”

He stands up. Wait.

Why is Jon _sitting on the damned dragon_?

Which now is _just behind them_ because for this one staging there pit is in the middle of a circular extra portion of the stage… on which they perched the damned thing while they were arguing?

Also, why is Dany leaning against the dragon’s back looking like she finds this exchange absolutely hilarious?

“I don’t know,” Jon says, “now that she pointed it out, it’s _obvious_ that Brienne over there is the heavenly goodness that opened your eyes to the horrors of carnal love and is bringing you to a purer, more saintly dimension.” Jaime doesn’’t know how he’s _not_ laughing like a madman as he says _that_ , but the moment he does, _Brienne_ laughs even harder. Jaime is starting to worry that she’ll faint at this point.

“Jon,” she wheezes, “I don’t think you want to know what we were up to last night, because if you did you wouldn’t put _me_ and those two words in the same sentence _and_ you’d know he wants no such thing.”

Jaime thinks that for once _she_ has managed to make him go red in the face.

“Come on,” Jon says, “don’t spoil it, _heavenly goodness_. You know, sounds about right, you should get t-shirts.”

“Anyway,” Jaime says, “there’s no _purity_ involved in this relationship, so how about you _all_ can it?”

“Yeah, I’ll believe it when I see it,” Cersei snorts. “ _She_ , not being _such a damned virgin_ considering everything?”

 _Now she’s going to stand up and stop laughing, I know_ , Jaime has a feeling —

Brienne stands up a moment later.

Well, _shit_.

“I don’t know,” she says, sounding almost smug, and damn, he did rub off on her, didn’t he? “I didn’t particularly enjoy being one and I can one hundred per cent assure you that in the last six months I learned at least fifteen different ways of tying someone to a bedframe, I had to renew my birth control prescription _real_ fast and most of the time if we try something new it’s _my_ idea, but I suppose virgins don’t have imaginations according to you? Sad. Anyway, sorry if I don’t ask if you want to watch next time just to be sure about how I don’t think I’m _such_ anything, but while I’m not a prude you’re the last person on the list of people I’d agree to have as an audience.”

Jaime thinks he’s going to either die laughing or of embarrassment.

Jon, on the other hand, is smirking more now than Jaime has _ever_ seen him in twenty years.

What the —

“That said,” Dany interrupts, “I kind of wanted to finish rehearsing this since I am in this act, too, and Davos assured me that this thing can actually spit fire if you know how to do it.”

“Really?” Jon asks. “Now it’s ten times cooler. How?”

“There’s a button somewhere under the neck,” Dany tells him. “But never mind _that_ , I also wanted to see if it really did and I can’t until you let us finish. _Sad_.”

“Honestly,” Jon says, “we were working. Can’t you just let Jaime and the _heavenly goodness_ live and avoid informing us of, like, the _details_? No one was asking for them.”

Cersei looks at them, then at Jaime, then at the dragon, then she shrugs in a way that _wants_ to seem dignified, and high-tails her way out of the room, still slamming the door.

For a moment, no one says a word because every single person in the room looks at a loss for words.

“I’m not sure what just went down here,” Stannis finally says, “and I don’t think I _want_ to know that, one almost-aneurysm was enough as far as I’m concerned. Can we go back to rehearsing this damned trio and forget about heavenly goodnesses?”

“ _Absolutely_ ,” Jon says, jumping down from the dragon and going back on stage while Dany just shrugs and takes his place, saying she’ll wait until they’re done from _that_ vantage point.

Jaime is _really_ glad he’s only singing in the first act.

Jon goes back to singing about recognizing his heavenly goodness a moment later.

Jaime bends his head toward Brienne’s, his voice lowered to a whisper.

“I’m — I don’t even know,” he admits. “But, like, you _know_ I don’t give a fuck?”

“I do,” she assures him, “and that was just so ridiculous I can’t even be offended. That said, do you think she needs lessons in making knots?”

He starts laughing again. Hard enough that Stannis sends them out, where they keep on laughing, and at that point when he finally has a grip of himself he looks back at her, and — her eyes meet his, and for a moment he’s taken aback all over again by how _blue_ and large and clear they are, and now that they’re shining in amusement they look even fucking prettier, and — then he realizes that technically that _heavenly_ , in the original, is a word that means _sky blue,_ too, and it sets him off again, so hard that he pretty much has to sit against the wall.

“Hey,” Brienne says, wiping at her eyes and sitting next to him, “are you going to share the funniest joke in the world with the class or what?”

“I was just thinking,” he smirks, “that maybe she wasn’t _that_ wrong about one thing. Or better, _Snow_ wasn’t.”

“… What,” she says. “Are you still going about this nonsense —”

“Brienne, Brienne,” he says, moving closer, “you came here _currently speaking_ in five different languages you’ve been studying for years _just_ to sing them knowing what you mean and you’re telling me you don’t know that if we take that _heavenly_ literally —”

“What, _celeste_? I don’t — oh, _no_.”

“Hm,” he grins, moving in between her legs, “seems like that _goodness_ is also the color of your eyes, more or less, other than heavenly. Sounds like I might have to rename you on my contacts list.”

“Jaime, if you _seriously_ rename me _celeste bontà_ on your phone I’m —”

“What, dumping me? You _wouldn’t_ ,” he grins against her lips. “You haven’t dumped me for _worst_.”

“Excuse me —”

“Come on, given where I come from, if you’re with me it won’t be such a dumb thing to make you reconsider. That said, I mean, he wasn’t wrong about the rest, too.”

“I don’t think I _suddenly_ appeared in front of you to drag you back from enchantment,” she snorts. “You were pretty disenchanted yourself when we met.”

“Maybe _not_ ,” he concedes, “but if I was the kind of guy who likes to hit on girls with cheesy pick-ups, saying that they’re my own special heavenly goodness would be a fairly damn good one, I think.”

“Jaime, come on —” She goes on, her cheeks turning red — _good_ , at least he’s having his revenge.

“Hm, how did it go? _Ma un raggio improvviso quest'alma rischiara…_ ” He starts humming, his mouth inching closer to hers as his hands go to her neck.

“You’re _not_ doing this —”

“ _Ah! Sì, ti ravviso, celeste bontà_ —”

He never finishes humming it because she’s kissed him before he could and promptly made sure he’s not singing that _again_ , and he’s absolutely going to kiss the shit out of her back as her thighs go around his hips and she drags him closer, and if anyone finds them making out on the ground, well, it wouldn’t be the first time.

But he’s _totally_ renaming her _celeste bontà_ on his contacts list the moment they’re done.

Then he’ll probably tell Loras so he can make sure Cersei is aware of that, but for now he’s _not_ going to think about her or anything else that’s not enjoying the rather heated kiss they’re sharing.

He does have his priorities set straight, after all.

 

 

End.

**Author's Note:**

> The execution of _In quale aspetto imbelle..._ linked in the fic is from the MET's last staging in 2010, with Lawrence Brownlee as Rinaldo, Barry Banks as Carlo and Kobie van Rensburg as Ubaldo, with Carlo Frizza conducting, hoping YT doesn't take it down like it did last time *rolls eyes*.


End file.
